How can I use key/value dashboard variables in Grafana + InfluxDB? - grafana

Question

I’m trying to suss out how to format my key/value pair dashboard variable. I’ve got a variable whose definitions are:
sensor_list = 4431,8298,11041,13781
sensor_kv = 4431 : Storage,8298 : Stairs,11041 : Closet,13781 : Attic
However, I can't seem to use it effectively for queries and dashboard formatting with InfluxDB. For example, I've got a panel whose query is this:
SELECT last("battery_ok") FROM "autogen"."Acurite-Tower" WHERE ("id" =~ /^$sensor_list$/) AND $timeFilter GROUP BY time($__interval) fill(null)
That works, but if I replace it with the KV, I can't get the value:
SELECT last("battery_ok") FROM "autogen"."Acurite-Tower" WHERE ("id" =~ /^$sensor_kv$/) AND $timeFilter GROUP BY time($__interval) fill(null)
^ that comes back with no data.
I'm also at a loss as to how to access the value of the KV pair in, say, the template values for a repeating panel. ${sensor_kv:text} returns the word "All" but ${sensor_kv:value} actually causes a straight up error: "Error: Variable format value not found"
My goal here is twofold:
To use the key side of the kv map as the ID to query from in the DB
To use the value side as the label of the stat panel and also as the alias of the measurement if I'm querying in a graph
I’ve read the formatting docs and all they mention are lists; there are no key/value examples on there, and certainly none that do this. It’s clearly a new-ish feature (here is the GH issue where its implementation is merged) so I’m hoping there’s just a doc miss somewhere.

Answer 1

In PR that you linked there is a tiny comment that key/value pair has to contain spaces.
So when you're defining a pairs in Values separated by comma it should be like
key1 : value1, key2 : value2
These will not work
key1:value1, key2:value2
key1 :value1, key2 :value2
key1: value1, key2: value2
Let's say that name of the custom variable is var1
Then you can access the key by ${var1} ,$var1, ${var1:text} or [[var1:text]]
(some datasources will be satisfied with $var1 - some will understand only ${var1:text})
And you can access the value by ${var1:value} [[var1:value]]
Tested in Grafana 8.4.7

Answer 2

I realise this might not be all the information you're after, but hope it will be useful. I came across this question when trying to implement something similar myself (also using InfluxDB), and I have managed to access both keys and values in a query
My query looks like this:
SELECT
"Foo.${VariableName:text}.Bar.${VariableName:value}"
FROM "db"
WHERE (filters, filters) AND $timeFilter GROUP BY "bas"
So as you see, my use case was a bit different from what you're trying to achieve, but it demonstrates that it's basically possible to access both the key and the value in a query.

Answer 3

Key/values are working with some timeseries DB where it makes sense, e.g. MySQL https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/mysql/:
Another option is a query that can create a key/value variable. The query should return two columns that are named __text and __value. The __text column value should be unique (if it is not unique then the first value is used). The options in the dropdown will have a text and value that allows you to have a friendly name as text and an id as the value.
But that's not a case for InfluxDB: https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/influxdb/ InfluxDB can't return key=>value result - it returns only timeseries (that's not a key=>value) or only values or only keys.
Workarounds:
1.) Use supported DB (MySQL, PostgreSQL) just to have correct key=>value results. You really don't need to create table for that, just combination of SELECT, UNION, ... and you will get desired result.
2.) Use hidden variable which will be "translating" value to key, which will be used then in the query. E.g. https://community.grafana.com/t/how-to-alias-a-template-variable-value/10929/3
Of course everything has pros and cons, for example multi value variable values may not work as expecting.